Instagram and TikTok made video the most prevalent art medium today – how IG stories, Facebook reels and video games readied Gen Z for NFT sales and the digital metaverse
- Video art began gaining traction in the 1980s with pioneers like Tony Oursler, Bruce Nauman and Jennifer Steinkamp – but its collectability has multiplied in recent years
- The medium is gaining wider appeal with artists and collectors, thanks to millennials and Gen Zers that have grown up fully digital native
In the era of Facebook Reels, TikTok videos and Instagram Stories, even the most staunch traditionalist can’t deny that videos are truly the most prevalent form of mass media.
As a creative medium, video has many immersive merits. And while video art has been around for decades, its collectability as an investment has gained considerable ground recently.
“Video art has an important legacy that goes all the way back to the 1980s, with pioneers like Tony Oursler, Bruce Nauman and Jennifer Steinkamp,” said Shasha Tittmann, director of the Lehmann Maupin Hong Kong gallery. “Video art has become more mainstream in recent years as it’s being integrated into the practice of more artists.
“It goes hand in hand with the development of technology and its possibilities for storytelling, from documenting a reality to constructing entirely new realities and visions.”
Fast forward to the present, and video is now omnipresent.
